FAIRFIELD – South 32nd Street has seen a flurry of new home construction in recent years.

Among the most recent additions to the neighborhood is the home owned by Mike and Jill Lane, who moved in May of 2023. The couple had been living on a gravel road between Batavia and Libertyville, but wanted to be closer to town so their daughters, Maya and Iris, would have a shorter drive to school.

Mike and Jill both grew up in Fairfield and attended FHS. They married in 2007, and started their life together by living in Douds.

In 2008, the family moved into a new home between Batavia and Libertyville because they wanted their children to attend Libertyville Elementary School. The couple said they loved that home, and it was hard to say goodbye to it.

“We just really wanted to get off a gravel road,” Jill said.

Jill’s brother is Judd Connor of Connor Custom Homes, and one day he and the Lanes got to talking about building a new home on the outskirts of Fairfield. Connor was building a home for Charles and Jennifer Melvin on South 32nd Street, and he had a few more lots in the area that were ripe for development.

Mike and Jill said they wanted a few things in their new home, such as an office space for Jill, an open floor plan and a screen porch.

“Our last house had a really nice deck, but it wasn’t covered or screened in,” Jill said. “There were many times we thought that we would be using that if it were screened in, or even covered.”

For the kitchen area, they wanted a pantry, since their last house was without a pantry, and that was something they sorely missed.

During construction, the family lived in a pole building next to their new home because they didn’t want to rent an apartment. They lived in that building for a year and a half, which came with pluses and minuses. The couple said it was nice to live simply with fewer belongings, and the smaller space meant the house was easier to clean.

“When it only takes 30 minutes to clean your whole space from top to bottom, you have a lot more time on your hands,” Jill said.

On the other hand, Mike said that sharing one bathroom with three girls made for busy mornings.

“I enjoyed it, and I enjoyed having concrete floors that you can’t hurt,” Mike said. “It was super simple.”

One feature of their former home that they wanted to copy in their new home was a walk-out basement, where their daughters’ bedrooms are.

“That worked out well for us in our last house,” Jill said. “We wanted that piece to remain the same, and to have lots of light down there is really important.”

When the major construction was done, the family put the finishing touches on the new house by painting it. Jill went looking for designs online that she wanted to have in the home, such as a specific style of railing for the stairs, and a door for the pantry. In both cases, they were able to recreate the railing and door almost exactly how they looked in the pictures.

The Lanes said their daughters are happy with the larger space they enjoy in the new home, and they like being closer to town. They said that it’s easier for friends to drop by now, and going back and forth between school is a lot quicker.

The house is nestled in a timber that abuts Highway 34. It’s also very close to the Fairfield Loop Trail, and in fact Mike built a staircase over the fence in the backyard for the family to take their bikes onto the trail.

“This is exactly what we wanted, right on the edge of town,” Mike said.

The family hosted Thanksgiving last year, and it’s about to host another large gathering this spring, Maya’s graduation party. It will be a chance for more people to see the home that the Lanes are so proud of.